Confirmed Signing with Link: [TOR] Leafs sign Auston Matthews to ELC

Honestly, HF Boards is either THIS

or

EVERY SINGLE HOCKEY PLAYER IN THE NHL TO TORONTO AS A FA SIGNING OR A TRADE...

News flash, no one wants to play in Toronto

I think you have selective vision. Of course when you have hundreds of thousands of fans you are going to have variety of opinion but most of us figured he would sign in Tampa and we would be his second or third choice.

You are right there is a lot of pressure and attention here and that is unattractive to a lot of players but to some they know to bring a Cup to Toronto would be make them immortal. When we are on the upswing and have a solid team again some players will want to join the bandwagon, there are just too many Ontario born players in the NHL for there not to be some.
 
So many people here (and among the Toronto media) have egg on their faces

Eh, not really, because it was an absolutely valid potential concern, given Lou's past history, combined with him not being signed for this long. Obviously, that concern turned out to be unfounded. I half wonder if the TO front office accelerated this to get it done right now as the flap is happening, in order to get the media to a) look bad, and b) shut the hell up. :laugh:
 
Honestly, HF Boards is either THIS

or

EVERY SINGLE HOCKEY PLAYER IN THE NHL TO TORONTO AS A FA SIGNING OR A TRADE...

News flash, no one wants to play in Toronto

Seems credible, thanks for the enlightening input ! Now that we got that out of the way what's next ? Relocate the leafs to a more fitting environment like Seattle/Quebec ? Or maybe try Atlanta again ?
 
Eh, not really, because it was an absolutely valid potential concern, given Lou's past history, combined with him not being signed for this long. Obviously, that concern turned out to be unfounded. I half wonder if the TO front office accelerated this to get it done right now as the flap is happening, in order to get the media to a) look bad, and b) shut the hell up. :laugh:

It was a concern but there was at the same time zero tangible evidence that Matthews wasn't going to get his bonuses. People on threads here were seriously speculating he was trying to force a trade too
 
Eh, not really, because it was an absolutely valid potential concern, given Lou's past history, combined with him not being signed for this long. Obviously, that concern turned out to be unfounded. I half wonder if the TO front office accelerated this to get it done right now as the flap is happening, in order to get the media to a) look bad, and b) shut the hell up. :laugh:

It was NOT a valid potential concern.

Plenty of other draft picks have been signed later in the summer and not a peep out of anyone.

All this does is reinforce the idea that Toronto IS the centre of the hockey universe. Everybody so concerned at what they're doing, whether they are fans or not. It's quite beautiful and hilarious at the same time.
 
Shouldn't of taken this long to sign him to a ELC contract with max bonuses you better hope that the hardball that was being played for a while doesn't have any negative effects on the future.
 
Shouldn't of taken this long to sign him to a ELC contract with max bonuses you better hope that the hardball that was being played for a while doesn't have any negative effects on the future.

???

The supposed hard balling was nothing more than baseless speculation because of the way Lou operated in NJ?
 
I don't think he ever intended not to pay him bonuses based on everything he ever said its more of a media thing

****ing bingo. All the stories and media surrounding it was 100% made up by the media because it's summer and their click count was dropping. It's something to talk about, but anyone who honestly thought that upper management, as in Shanahan and his bosses, would let Lou play fast and loose with the face of THEIR franchise is simply too jaded by the noise coming out of Toronto. I doubt Lou even had the authority to offer him anything less than a max deal, there's no reason to burn bridges with a player who is going to get the max deal eventually anyways. These are business men, as much as we like to think their stupid and that we could do their job and make millions, their not, they know how business works.
 
Who cares. No one worried about this. Done deal. Hope to see this kid be a productive NHLer for years to come.
 
Glad to see they did the right thing. It'll be interesting to see if he was just an exception(I do think that Marner's contract was seriously lowballed).
 
Shouldn't of taken this long to sign him to a ELC contract with max bonuses you better hope that the hardball that was being played for a while doesn't have any negative effects on the future.

Ekblad took weeks longer two years ago and just signed a long term deal. It's July 21st. this isn't even a big deal. If this was any other team no one would care or make a big deal out of it.
 
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WOW, can't believe they signed this guy! This is gonna be cap problems for the Leafs for years to come.
 

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